{"id":2395,"date":"2023-04-04T17:52:47","date_gmt":"2023-04-04T21:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/?p=2395"},"modified":"2023-04-04T17:52:49","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T21:52:49","slug":"how-safe-is-your-pets-anesthesia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.drphilzeltzman.com\/blog\/how-safe-is-your-pets-anesthesia\/","title":{"rendered":"How safe is your pet\u2019s anesthesia?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Surgeons love little sayings. One of them is \u201cThere are routine surgeries, but there is no routine anesthesia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a good reminder that while pets rarely die because of the surgery itself, they can die because of anesthesia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why it is so important to do a thorough physical exam and blood work before surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While not 100% foolproof, blood work helps us know whether internal organs are normal or not, especially the liver and the kidneys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those organs are especially important as they may filter some of the anesthesia drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we may change which drugs we use based on blood work alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is much more important than only considering the pet\u2019s age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A (sick) 2 year old cat could have a higher anesthetic risk than a (healthy) 12 year old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another way to assess preop patients\u2019 anesthesia risk is to determine where they fit in the American Society of Anesthesiologists\u2019 (ASA) classification. This is a human scale, but perfectly adaptable to pets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, our wonderful nurses apply it to every single patient they anesthetize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are 5 classes.
Fitting a patient in one particular category is somewhat subjective, but here is the gist of the classification:<\/p>\n\n\n\n